Key to Motivation

My husband and I are both high school track & field and cross country coaches. When we heard that our spring track & field season would be cancelled - we were devastated. We've been involved in track and field in some capacity the past 17 years. What was even worse, was to break this news to our senior athletes on the team, who worked so hard in the off-season to get ready for competition. 

These past few weeks have included a lot of Zoom meetings (who else?...) about how we could honor not only our potential varsity athletes and seniors, but also how we can do what we are really here to do a coaches - encourage our kids to continue to get outside and stay active, without dwelling on the things we can't control.

We've spent many hours trying to come up with ways to encourage safe competition to keep the kids excited and motivated to keep being active. After talking with many friends who are also runners and triathletes, I've also learned that many of the surrounding competitions, including one we were both training for, Bloomsday 12k, have been postponed or cancelled.

How do we stay motivated without competition? That's easy for many - but hard for others. I know my husband and I are both motivated by competition, because we grew up in competitive sports our entire 29 years of life. This is a new time in history for everyone. 

I want to share a few ideas to keep you and your kids motivated to keep moving during this time. These are ideas we've come up with, collectively as coaches, and hope our community get some benefit (and excitement from it).

Friendly At-Home Competition

1. Decide what activities you're going to include. Choose 3-5. Get creative! Dancing, running, cycling, indoor workouts, walking the dog, etc.

2. Rank each activity, descending, hardest to easiest.

3. Choose a point system. For example, in our household we've included (in this order of ranking hardest to easiest): 1. Running; 2. Cycling; 3. Indoor HIIT workout; 4. Yoga; 5. Walk the dog. Running=5 points, Cycling=4 points, so on and so forth.

4. Track and log your activity weekly. At the end of the week compare points. The winner gets to pick...say, dinner! Or a treat. Or anything you and your family decide. :)

We also thought this would be a fun system to get neighbors, friends, and other family members involved in some friendly competition. What do you think?

We hope you have fun with this and I would love for you to share pictures, or tell us stories about how you and your family/friends are staying motivated during this time. 

XO

Jenny Stuchell, Founder